WASHINGTON—The Pentagon on Saturday said it would call most of its 350,000 furloughed civilian workers back to their jobs, concluding that a recent law allows officials to consider them critical to protecting national security.

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, shown on Sept. 28, is ordering most of the Pentagon's 400,000 furloughed workers back to work.
Associated Press

The Pentagon employs the largest share of the 800,000 federal workers sent home during the government shutdown. It has been forced to halt military training for many personnel, shutter commissaries, send intelligence analysts home and suspend a range of activities.

The Defense Department's announcement came as the House of Representatives voted unanimously to provide back pay to all furloughed federal workers once the shutdown ends.

The 407-0 vote reflected rare agreement between Republicans and Democrats, who said that the federal workers should not be pawns in a larger political fight over government spending priorities.

Still, there was no sign that either party was ready to abandon its terms for ending the shutdown, which reached its fifth day on Saturday.

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The White House supports retroactive pay for federal workers. The Senate won't take up the measure until at least next week.

While workers deemed essential to public safety and national security have remained on the job, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will remain on furlough until the political stalemate ends, and a large range of federal services and activities will remain suspended. A dispute between the parties has left federal agencies largely unfunded for the new fiscal year, which began Tuesday.

"'Hallelujah!'" Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), whose state is home to MacDill Air Force Base, said after learning that the furloughed military workers would be called back to work.

The Pentagon said it could recall workers under a law that President Barack Obama signed on Monday, just before the shutdown took effect. The law ensured that the 1.4 million active duty service members around the world, including troops in Afghanistan, would continue to get paid.

The law also allowed the Defense Department to recall civilians and contractors supporting the active-duty forces.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the Pentagon adopted a broad interpretation of the law. While it doesn't give them leeway to bring everyone back, Mr. Hagel said on Saturday, the law allows the department to end furloughs for everyone who contributes to the "morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members."

That, Pentagon lawyers determined, includes people performing a broad range of activities, such as offering medical care, working in base commissaries, analyzing intelligence and training staff.

Robert Hale, the Pentagon's comptroller, estimated that the department would bring back at least 90% of its furloughed workers. He said the number of department workers on furlough was about 350,000, refining earlier estimates that 400,000 would be sent home, or about half of all federal workers on furlough.

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Fans display signs on the government shutdown during the Navy-Air Force football game Saturday in Annapolis, Md.
Associated Press

The Pentagon expects that inspectors working on defense contracts will return to work, which would alleviate some of the pressure on defense companies that have announced plans to lay off thousands of workers as a result of the showdown.

Effects of the shutdown had begun to weigh on defense contractors. Lockheed Martin Corp. on Friday announced plans to furlough 3,000 workers on Monday and said it could be forced to take additional steps if the government didn't get back to normal business soon.

On Saturday, the company said it was too early decide whether it could cancel or reduce the furloughs following the Pentagon's decision.

Mr. Hagel warned that if the shutdown persisted, he might be forced to renew the furloughs.

"If the lapse of appropriations continues, many of these workers will cease to be able to do their jobs," he warned. "Critical parts, or supplies, will run out, and there will be limited authority for the department to purchase more. If there comes a time that workers are unable to do their work, I will be forced to once again send them home."

On Capitol Hill, some Democrats worried the Pentagon's decision could ease pressure to reopen the entire government all at once, as Democrats have demanded. House Republicans have passed bills funding discrete parts of the government. But legislation they have offered to fund all federal agencies has included provisions delaying or curtailing the new federal health law, which Democrats have rejected.

Mr. Obama has refused to consider changes to the health law as a condition of reopening the government, and he says he won't negotiate over terms for raising the nation's debt ceiling, saying Congress cannot ask for "ransom'' in return for doing its duty.

"This shutdown has been brought about by the president's unwillingness to sit down and talk with members of Congress," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said. "This administration has been almost absent when it comes to discussions and working out our differences, and we're going to stay focused on trying to ease the pain of this shutdown."

Democrats criticized House Republicans for advancing piecemeal bills rather than a single measure to bring all of the federal government back on the job.

"We are going to pay all the federal employees, as we should, but we're going to pay them to stay at home," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), summarizing what he said was the Republican policy. "It's an absolutely absurd position."

Mr. Obama said in an interview released Saturday that he thinks Congress will vote to raise the U.S. borrowing limit so that the nation could pay all its obligations. He criticized House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) for failing to hold a vote on doing so sooner.

"I'm pretty willing to bet that there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now to make sure that the United States doesn't end up being a deadbeat," Mr. Obama told the Associated Press. "The only thing that's preventing that from happening is Speaker Boehner calling the vote."

Mr. Boehner has said the nation's borrowing limit should not be raised unless paired with a deficit-reduction package or other GOP policy goals.

The PentaCon, DOD, intelligence and security agencies and mainstream press is the biggest organized criminal syndicate in the world, all controlled by the greed of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and partners in crime the World Bank and IMF. They got us in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan…all failed missions to date costing 70,000 American lives, who knows how many serious causalities, and trillions of dollars in debt…all for their power, glory, careers and greed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

More than half of federal discretionary spending now goes to the military budget. Many more taxpayer dollars are devoted to the Department of Defense than to the critical needs of our citizenry.

If there is no funding allocated then the agencies have no ability to spend. Laws don't provide funding alone, programs rely on 2 parts—a bill to do something and a bill to fund it. Without the latter there is no authority to spend, unless the DoD believes it is no longer under civilian control.

I supported Chuck for Secretary of Defense before he got the office. His compassion for the American people and soldiers holds true - just by his actions today.

Today across America Catholic/Republicans, and Cruz, block their ears with the screams of empty stomachs for those unwanted Pro life babies when the Food Stamp program was reduced, and I rallied to save Big Bird from Catholic/Republican annihilation - Big Bird the only dad so many Pro life babies new as dad. The same Catholics who rallied for pro life now have the homes so man pro life babies called home -day cares - they were and are raised in - closed. Catholic Boehner had 30 bills to force young Catholic girls to have kids and they do so at the rate of over one million - to kids who can afford a pack of cigarettes or to Bingo, and yet, are expected to raise kids they don't want and certainly can't afford. Oh, yes the pope, the old man from Argentina doesn't want to make abortion the front runner of the Catholic Church - anymore - after all it destroyed the family and now he wants to help the poor - which means more fundraising and the Holy Roman Catholic church will certainly take its cut to live in luxury. As the billions continue to dwindle in the HRCC two former popes will be made saints - in short bring your cash, pledge or donation to the Vatican ... after all one has to keep up appearances. Is it any wonder why the "Church" paid $4.1 million for the ad - Catholics come home .... I say run take your children with you and run ... but if you take them to a park ... remember it is closed ... after all there is more than one way to get you into a Catholic Church. Catholics are not Christian ... all others are non Catholics. ,,, but there are Christians, Muslims and Jews contrary to Catholic indoctrination.

This gubment shutdown is all backwards. We furlough those that predict hurricane paths, or workers in charge of cancer therapies and grants at the NIH, while keeping on our payroll the peasants who sign up for service and thoughtlessly follow orders to murder innocent people overseas, I.e. our military. A strange set of priorities we have here, don't we ? Land of the free indeed. The freely delusioned, that it is.

How about we shut down Medicare ? Let's see how many of the currently vocal Tea Partiers could show up at their sily Glenn Beck "Honor Restauration" rallies without their free, gubment provided insulin and statins and artificial ticker valves ? These rallies would have a lesser attendance than the Louvre would if it were in a Red State.

Ever since 2010 when the Republicans took the House, they have been trying to get rid of that thorn in their back called Obama to no avail. Then, a real monster emerged, the Tea Party.The Tea Party Republicans of 30 to 40 hardliners in control of the House have held the government hostage adding to the CR bill one condition: to defund the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare.) Whether to ACA works or not remains to be seen.John Boehner who has been crippled by the Tea Party lacks the courage to bring this bill to the floor for a vote because he would have to surrender his gavel. Boehner knows that two-thirds of traditional Republicans would vote for a clean CR bill. The president is aware it’s hard to negotiate with Tea Party politicians don’t care if they have to burn the place down to please their few extremely wealthy donors.

This is a transparent, and totally political end-run around Congress; saying in effect Congress no longer has the power of the purse, and the Military can do business as usual regardless of its' civilian masters' approval. Want a military takeover in any country? First you make the military a power unto itself, not answerable to the civilian Govt, except perhaps the figurehead running the show...say, a "commander in chief". Then you wait for or create an internal crisis (a financial meltdown, a default?), and deploy them on the populace.

Look at history, it's happened over and over again. It's a lesson everyone should learn, in all countries.

Question: Where and how is the money flowing to pay them without Congressional approval?

Hey wait a minute, I thought that the extreme right wing alleged that government workers do little and earn too much (I agree at least in part), so why is this same loony bunch voting to give them all pay for doing even less - like nothing?

As to Defense Department employees, again last time I looked, we spend on defense roughly as much as the rest of the world combined! Surely we can let the employees of this grossly over-staffed Dept take a rest.

This current crop of GOP folks arent very bright.... I am really surprised it hasn't been brought up...

Lets assume for a moment they WERE able to get "something" by this (now very partial) goverment shutdown...

Now.. Fast forward to a time when the GOP has elected a president, has a majority in the Senate, and the Democrats have a mojority in the House. All you have to do is look at history, and you will see that it WILL happen.

So now do you want the Democrats to be able to demand single payer healthcare or they shut down discetionary spending, except those things THEY like?? How about those taxes you just lowered, either those are reinstated or the budget gets it?? Medicare reform? Social Security reform? All gone...Imagine what single programs THEY would fund, and the ones they wouldn't... Imagine the demands they would make?

Now... are you SURE you want to do this?

really? REALLY?

Once this cat is out of the bag, It aint going back in... And forever is a LONG time.... There is a reason the constitution has very specific remedies and instructions for majority and minority rule.

I agree with this....the paying of those furloughed.... even though Obama, Reid and many dems do not for they what the maximum amount of stress and vendetta against the Nation's citizens to occur with their childish refusal to do the obvious.....give the citizens the same choice Obama gave businesses on a one years extension if they wanted not to purchase Obamacare before the end of the year......and why not have Congressional staffers have the same experience all of us will have with Obamacare and end this "special treatment" for Congressional staffers......the military civilians did not ask to be dem/Obama pawns in their desire to manipulate the House....but at least the House believes they should get paid even if Obama and Reid what to remain adults acting like children.....bullying was suppose to be absent from the Congress but seems we see it very well acting out by Obama/dems/Reid.

So, somebody tell me again what Republicans are trying to accomplish here? They shut down the entire government except SSI, Medicare, ObamaCare, Welfare, and the Pentagon? And, as for the other agencies, they are going to give them pay are their bills and give their employees back pay for not working.

This has to be the stupidest thing that I have ever seen. At least the Gingrich shutdown had a leader.

"On Capitol Hill, some Democrats worried the Pentagon's decision could ease pressure to reopen the entire government all at once, as Democrats have demanded. House Republicans have passed bills funding discrete parts of the government. But legislation they have offered to fund all federal agencies has included provisions delaying or curtailing the new federal health law, which Democrats have rejected."

This says it all. Dems worry that if they agree to fund things that are really needed, they will loose the control they have gained and won't be able to fund the other stuff, too. Are we still funding the Cowboy Poetry Festival in Nevada? That must be "critical", right?

personally, I thing they should all grow up, pass the CR, and can the whole shutdown thing. I actually find these piecemeal initiatives offered by either side depressing, and indicative of how trivial US politics has become.

It's a good sentiment, Jose, but runs afoul of some ugly facts. From time immemorial, people who beat their swords into plowshares have frequently ended up doing the plowing for those who kept their swords.

Mr. Hall, excellent comment, Chinese president Xi Jinping must be watching very closely. He has been a student of this strategy most of his life. I am sure he is curious to see if it works in the modern era against the greatest country the world has ever known.

Lets see what the Senate does, Dingy Harry has been the all or nothing guy. Obama has promised to veto anything that does not approve the full funding of Obama Care. I would like to know how the funding of Obama Care is supposed to occur with the largest corporations not in the program for another year. I know my answer. On the taxpayers back! Do the largest corporations get another delay next year? To say just one side is "loony" and give the other side a pass distorts the facts.

That is exactly right Earl. What happens next time the Democrats control the House.... or the Senate. And refuse to fund the government unless they get their way. And default on the U.S. debt if they don't.

Previously, the good of the country was placed ahead of partisan politics. Unfortunately, with the Tea Partisans, that is no longer the case.

Yes... The Iraq war that Democrats voted for. The one that EVERYONE was fed false intelligence where items that were not true were cherry picked and fed to the public and congress by the administration at the time. The one where many wanted to put them in jail for that act. Yah that Iraq war....

Actually, the Senate is functioning normally, according to democratic principles. It's the House (or rather a critical minority in the House, coupled with spineless majority "leadership") that has destroyed the government's ability to function.

Most folks in that 800k work for Pentagon. We are a military nation, our budget is mostly military and weapons.

And realistically we need to start transitioning from military driven economy into civilian free market or we are bound to end up like the British empire that ran out of money and became a shadow of it's former self.

Hugh, Mr. Gray wasn't talking about ObamaCare. He as positing the idea that now, if any party doesn't get exactly what it wants, a precedent has been set for that party to defund the government.... or default on the debt.... or whatever other action that hurts this country, but helps their narrow, partisan cause.

Maybe you should have gone at least 5 seconds thinking about it. Though, your 3.2 seconds obviously surpassed the amount of the thought that the GOP devoted to their stupid strategy.

Come on Greg, give up already. Using your logic, if Harry Reid sent the House GOP a bill to defund the military and the House refused to approve it, it would be the House's fault. Unless, using your logic, they agreed to negotiate and only defund, say, half of the military.

This is a fight that the House picked. They did so with no plan, no strategy, and no forethought. Now they've boxed themselves in and don't know what to do.

And before you reply with the typical, "just another lib" comment, remember. The current GOP strategy is to make all "essential" people work. And give all "non-essential" employees a free paid vacation. If thinking that is absolutely idiotic makes me a liberal, then sign me up!

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